Four of us at the Oakland museum. Two of us (i.e., not me or one other person) trying to out-motormouth the other. I just wanted to scream, "Shut up and EAT!"

But food began being shoveled in...and the talking continued to a point where I had to put my hand over my plate lest bits of salmon chowder or meatloaf sandwich began seasoning my Vietnamese chicken rice bowl.

Truly....I was appalled.

« Last Edit: November 17, 2006, 12:50:11 PM by Ron Pulliam »

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Measure your life by moments that take your breath away, not by the breaths you take in a moment.

I had quite the surprise late this morning. My friend Hal called with an offer to take me to lunch, his treat, at a local Italian restaurant I had never been to. We went there for lunch, and it was delicious. But the best things about it were that (1) it was free, and (2) it was such a surprise since Fridays are usually fried chicken day around here.

Because lunch ran late, I only had a chance to watch two things from last night.

I began with CSI, an OK episode with idetical twins (who knew nothing about each other) murdered within two hours of each other.

Something happened to Gregg Sanders on last week's show (which I forgot to record) so that now he's being sued by some family due to some testimony he gave in court. It was briefly mentioned during the show but no backstory was offered, so I have no idea what that's about.

Next came last night's SMALLVILLE, a freaky story of parallel frequency universes. Clark wasn't around for much of the episode since he had gone off to Seattle to help folks in a weird set of murders happening there. His adventures in Seattle were given short shrift and deserved an episode to itself.

While I was watching SMALLVILLE, my friend Jeff was calling from his break at work wanting to talk (and rave) about last night's UGLY BETTY. Of course, I hadn't watched it yet, so we ended up talking GREY'S ANATOMY instead.

UGLY BETTY will be the first thing I watch when I go back down and prepare for the evening's viewing.

Jill Hennesy and Jerry O'Connell from CROSSING JORDAN (still on hiatus) are guest starring once again on LAS VEGAS tonight, so I'll watch the show just for them (it promises to be a mystery with them on board).

I've completed the first section of Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, . Who knew that so much of our processed food came from corn? Even vegetarians aren't exempt, if they're eating anything that's been manufactured. If you get a meal from McDonald's and eat it in your car, you're eating corn. The burger? Corn-fed beef (cows don't naturally eat corn, they eat grass). The McNuggets? Corn-fed chickens, which are then chopped up and processed, held together with corn products to make up the nuggets. The soda you drink to wash it all down? The second ingredient in the soda, after carbonated water, is High Fructose Corn Syrup, sweeter and cheaper than sugar... particularly after the tariffs imposed on the sugar industry by the corn lobby. Opt for a salad? The Newman's Own Salad Dressing contains still more HFCS, along with "corn syrup, corn starch, dextrin, caramel color, and xantham gum," all of which come from processed corn. Even the fries, which you would think are mostly potatoes, get half their calories from corn oil. Even the car you drive in, while eating all this McProcessed food, is run in part on corn, because of the federally mandated inclusion of ethanol - a mandate that was supported by the corn lobby, of course. (And ethanol creates more pollution than ordinary gas, too!)

Scary stuff. I try to avoid corn syrup & some of these other ingredients when possible-not an easy thing to do.

"Ugly Betty" was a fun, fun show last night. It was Thanksgiving (which is sort of confusing since next week's show -- ON Thanksgiving -- looks to be a new show...unless I misunderstood when the next show will air).

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Measure your life by moments that take your breath away, not by the breaths you take in a moment.

We felt MEDIUM was an hour too long & was too predictable. We did appreciate the creativity of the youngest daughter’s dreams. The remaining plots & story lines, while intriguing at times, just didn’t pan out for us & left us wondering “what was the point of that?”

Four of us at the Oakland museum. Two of us (i.e., not me or one other person) trying to out-motormouth the other. I just wanted to scream, "Shut up and EAT!"

Hey, you're the one who chose to eat with this crowd.

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There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

The corn that we humans eat is not the same as the corn that is raised for industrial food. What we eat is either sweet corn, raise specifically for human consumption, or pop corn, again specifically raised.

The corn that is used for corn syrup, starch, and further modified into practically everything comes from hybreds that are specifically raised for a) high yeild and b) resistance to disease. Apparently it tastes like... well, almost nothing. It is to corn what a chicken nugget is to chicken, meaning that it tastes not like chicken but like a nugget.

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There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

Cillaliz

The corn that we humans eat is not the same as the corn that is raised for industrial food. What we eat is either sweet corn, raise specifically for human consumption, or pop corn, again specifically raised.

The corn that is used for corn syrup, starch, and further modified into practically everything comes from hybreds that are specifically raised for a) high yeild and b) resistance to disease. Apparently it tastes like... well, almost nothing. It is to corn what a chicken nugget is to chicken, meaning that it tastes not like chicken but like a nugget.

You got something against corn? Actually I've eaten what we call field corn, it tasted like corn to me. You wouldn't want to eat it when it's hard and dried and ready to be processed though.

Obviously, der B and I have returned from the Casino Royale screening. We were both pleased with the film (although there were a couple of plot points I had to explain to der B, stuff that had flown by during the film and were easy to miss).

It is definitely a reboot of the franchise, much as Batman Begins rebooted the winged rodent. And Craig makes a very good Bond, dangerous and in his own way sexy. That Judi Dench is the only actor to continue from the earlier stuff to this film was a good decision, and she and Craig play well together.

My memories of the book are sketchy, but the film seemed to follow the original storyline very well. It is raw, rough-edged. There are a number of set pieces that, while fantastic, never seem set in a fantasy world. Great cinematography, I thought.

End of report. And I don't think I've included any spoilers.

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There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

Fletcher is doing very well. Der Brucer and me being with him during his fit helped him a good deal - since a soothing tone of voice wouldn't have been noticed, our stroking him did the trick instead.

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There are worlds out there where the sky is burning, and the sea's asleep, and the rivers dream; people made of smoke and cities made of song. Somewhere there's danger, somewhere there's injustice, somewhere else the tea's getting cold. Come on, Ace. We've got work to do.

Yes, the kitchen floor will be mopped in just a few minutes. I thought about doing it this morning the way I've done the other cleaning during the morning this week, but I put it off. Now, I have that awful job staring me in the face.

Oh, DR Jennifer, an update about VANISHED. It's gone for good. The last four episodes will be streamed at FoxOnDemand website. Supposedly, starting in December, Fox is going to show on Fridays at 8 the rest of the JUSTICE episodes that were produced.